Tee-pees: An abundance of winter fun

Ok, so this isn’t a how-to of tee-pees, but rather a recollection of a fun trip we had with our kids a few years ago, in the middle of winter, on a mountain, in the snow, on a frozen lake, in a tee-pee. I had been talking to a friend about going ice-fishing (something I had done once as a kid), and making it a family experience (he with his wife and I with my wife and 2 kids). He was in charge of the tee-pee designs (what we thought would provide the most space for us, the fishing holes and cooking dinner.

The tee-pee was the right choice as it had fairly vertical sides to stand up in and shed the snow, large floor space, and a ventilation hole for fumes for the planed cooking experience. My friend pulled some 16 foot 2x4s and a large tarp out and with a rope, we were set.

That was the easy part. The lake we chose was in an area rarely travelled in winter and then normally only by snow machines. His Durango made short work of it though and before too long we were at the trail head and read to pack in our gear.

Note my old-school backpack!

To add to our theme of things that you don’t normally see in winter, I had brought a small inflatable boat. Why? It was to be an improvised pulk for the trail. It did the trick.

We hauled the gear and kids out there and went to work clearing the lake for the tee-pee. The tee-pee worked surprisingly well and we had it up in no time. Lunch was smokies and chocolate (and no fish).

 There was plenty of space for the kids to play around, but my daughter chose to sit on the cool new seats instead.

We did fish, but with no success!

The kids had a blast, we had a blast and now my friend is sold on Tee-pees for shelters!